Cam bar control for an automatic laundry machine

ABSTRACT

A cam bar control such as used in a laundry machine having a braking or damping means for deceleration of the movement of the bar. The braking means includes a spring engaging a surface of the cam bar and a raised portion on the surface to increase the frictional force between the spring and cam bar at a particular point in the movement of the bar.

United States Patent Richard L. Cowan St. Joseph;

Ronald G. Sommer, Stevensville, Mich. 823,096

May 8, 1969 Apr. 27, 1971 Whirlpool Corporation Benton Harbor, Mich.

Inventors Appl. No. Filed Patented Assignee CAM BAR CONTROL FOR AN AUTOMATIC LAUNDRY MACHINE 9 Claims, 6 Drawing Figs.

U.S. Cl 68/23.7, 192/93 Int. Cl D06f 35/00, Fl6d 19/00 Field of Search 68/23.7;

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Re24,0l6 6/1955 Geldhofet a1. 68/23.7 2,942,446 6/1960 Platt et al 68/23.7

Primary Examiner-William 1. Price Assistant Examiner-Philip R. Coe

Attorneys-Thomas E. Turcotte, James S. Nettleton, Donald W. Thomas, Burton H. Baker, Franklin C. Hatter, Gene A. Heth and Hill, Sherman, Meroni, Gross and Simpson ABSTRACT: A cam bar control such as used in a laundrymachine having a braking or damping means for deceleration of the movement of the bar. The braking means includes a spring engaging a surface of the cam bar and a raised portion on the surface to increase the frictional force between the spring and cam bar at a particular point in the movement of the bar.

PATENTEU m2? l97| SHEET 2 0F 3 CAM BAR CONTROL FOR AN AUTOMATIC LAUNDRY MACHINE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field ofthe Invention The present invention is directed to laundry appliances and more specifically to a cam bar control used in actuating a clutch in an automatic washer having a series of different operating periods in a programmed cycle.

2. Prior Art In laundry machines such as automatic washing machines which perform various laundry operations including washing, rinsing, and extracting the washing fluids and rinsing fluids, the various mechanisms for extracting 'fluid from the clothes being washed and the mechanism for washing the clothes are detachably interconnected to a single drive source such as an electric motor by various clutch mechanisms. As illustrated and described in the Geldhof et al., U.S. Pat. No. Re.24,0l6 and Platt et al., US. Pat. No. 2,942,446, the operation of a clutch mechanism such as the clutch that connects the agitator to the source of oscillating motion is accomplished by means of a cam bar having a cam surface on which a follower that is operably connected to the clutch mechaniam moves and is reciprocated to engage and disengage the clutch dependent upon the movement of the cam bar.

The cam bar has a cam surface which provides a hook portion and since the follower is fixed .with respect to the direction of movement of the cam bar, the movement of the cam bar results in the acceleration thereof. The follower contacts the hook portion in the cam surface and is a potential source ofnoise and wear.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is directed to the improvement in a cam bar assembly which has a cam bar with a cam surface and a follower moving relatively on the cam surface for selectively applying an increased frictional braking force to the cam bar. A spring means engages a surface of the bar which surface has a raised portion forming an action surface at a predetermined position to increase the frictional force as the bar reaches a predetermined point of its travel. The cam bar assembly of the present invention is particularly adapted for use in a laundry machine for controlling a clutch mechanism for interconnecting a clothes basket with a source of high speed rotary motion.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a cam bar assembly having a braking means.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a cam bar assembly including braking means which assembly is inexpensive to manufacture and does not involve any additional moving parts.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a cam bar assembly having a braking means for use in controlling the operation of a clutch in a washing machine having more than one different mode of operation.

Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be readily apparent from the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings although variations and modifications may be effected without departing from the spirit and scope of the novel concept of the disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. I is a side elevation with portions broken away and in cross section for purposes ofillustration ofa washing machine utilizing the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view with portions in elevation for purposes of illustration of a clutch mechanism controlled by the cam bar assembly of the present invention;

FIG 3 is an enlarged fragmental plan view of the drive mechanism looking substantially along the line III-III of FIG. 1 with certain parts broken away for purposes of illustration;

FIG, 4 is a side elevational view of the cam bar of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a plan view of the spring utilized in the cam bar assembly of the present invention; and

FIG. 6 is a view taken along line Vll-VI of FIG. 3 with parts removed for purposes of illustration.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In the embodiment of our invention illustrated in the drawings, we have shown in FIG. 1, an automatic laundry machine 10 of a type capable of washing, rising and drying operations and having a cabinet 11 forming an enclosure for a tub 12 having a pump 14 for withdrawing water therefrom. A clothes container or basket 15 is rotated around and within the tub 12. The cabinet 11 also forms a enclosure for the control and drive mechanisms for the machine.

The tub 12 is shown as being carried on a floating base 16 suspended from the top portion of the cabinet on suspension links 17-17 encased in rubber at their ends carried in sockets 19 in the base 16 and in similar sockets at the upper part ofthe cabinet 11, for dampening oscillatable movement of the tub and base.

A gear casing 23 for the oscillatable drive mechanism for the machine is suspended from the base 16 on bolts 20 threaded into studs 21 welded into the base 16, maintaining the gear casing in a fixed parallel spaced relation with respect to the base 16. The gear casing 23 is in two parts, a lower part 24 serving as a casing for the oscillatable drive gear for oscillatably driving an agitator 25 in the clothes container or basket I5 and an upper part 26 which serves as a cover for the lower part, a support for certain operating and control mechanisms for the machine and as a bearing support for certain drive shafts therefor, as will hereinafter be more clearly seen.

An oscillatable drive shaft 27 shown as being rotatably supported in the gear casing 23 in a boss. 29 depending from the lower part 24 thereof and as extending upwardly through a boss 30 projecting upwardly from the upper part 26 thereof and as extending along and as being journaled within a rotata ble drive sleeve 31. The sleeve 31 extends within a stationary sleeve 32 which extends upwardly from a hollow center post 33. The hollow center post 33 forms a closure for the central part of the bottom of the tub l2 and extends upwardly from the bottom of the tub l2 and has the sleeve 32 carried therein and projecting outwardly therefrom within a hollow upright portion 34 of the clothes basket 15. The sleeve 31 has the clothes container or basket 15 supported on its upper end for spinning the same upon rotation of said sleeve as described in the Platt et al. patent, US. Pat. No. 2,942,446.

The agitator 25 is carriedon the upper end of the shaft 27 and suitably secured thereto to be oscillatably driven thereby upon oscillatable movement of the shaft 27.

The sleeve 31 extends downwardly along the shaft 27 and is rotatably driven from a drive sheave or pulley 35 freely mounted on the lower end portion of the sleeve 31 through a clutch 36 which is attached to the sleeve 31 by a pin 36. The clutch 36 is herein shown as being a friction disc clutch having an annular friction surface 37 urged into engagement with the upper face of the sheave 35 by a spring means 38 acting between a clutch yoke 39 and the base 16. The clutch yoke 39 is operated by a cam bar means or assembly 56 to effect engagement or disengagement of the clutch 36. The cam bar means 56 includes a rectilinear movable shifting cam bar 41.

Suspended from the base 16 on a hanger 44 is a motor 43 serving as a drive motor for the machine 10. The motor 43 is shown as having an upwardly projecting motor shaft 45, having a motor pulley 46 suitably secured to the upper end. The hanger bracket 44 may be mounted on the base 16 for adjustable movement with respect thereto to take up tension on a drive belt 47 in any well-known manner, and is no part of the present invention so need not herein be shown or described. The drive belt 47 is shown as being trained about motor pulley 46 to and around the drive sheave 35 for spinning the clothes basket 15 upon engagement of the clutch 36, and around a drive sheave or pulley 49, pinned or otherwise secured to the upper end of a drive shaft 50 for the mechanism for oscillatably driving the shaft 27 and the agitator 25. The shaft 50 is shown as being journaled in a boss 52 projecting upwardly from the upper part 26 of the gear casing 23 and as extending 5 downwardly within said gear casing and forming a drive for the oscillatable drive mechanism for oscillatably driving the agitator drive shaft 27.

Disposed in the gear casing 23 are gear means for converting rotational motion into oscillatory motion. The gear means illustrated in the Geldhof and Ringer, US. Pat. No. Re.24,0l6, is an example of a gear means that would accomplish this function. The gear means for converting rotational movement into oscillatory movement disposed in the gear casing 23 includes a sector gear attached to the shaft 51 journaled in the casing. Disposed on the shaft 51 is a bracket 40 which oscillates therewith and which supports a pair of solenoids 53,54 which are operably connected to the cam bars 41 and 55 respectively. (FIG. 3).

The cam bar 55 is part of the cam bar means 56 which includes a follower 57 operably connected to a clutch mechanism disposed in the gear casing 23 for interconnecting the shaft 27 to the sector gear to oscillatably drive the agitator 25. The clutch mechanism operated by the follower 57 can be of the structure illustrated in the patent to Platt, US. Pat. No. 2,942,446.

As best illustrated in FIG. 2, the clutch 36 includes a lifter or brake ring 61 which as illustrated in the above-mentioned reissue US. Pat. No. Re.24,016 has ears which are pivotally connected to the clutch yoke 39. When the ring 61 is lifted by the yoke 39 it will engage a frictional surface 62 to brake the rotational movement of the shaft 31. As the ring 61 as moved upward into engagement with the frictional surface 62, it lifts the frictional surface 37 from the pulley or drive sheave 35 to disconnect basket from its source of rotational motion.

The cam bar 41 causes the engagement and disengagement of the clutch means 36, and as best illustrated in FIG. 4, has a cam surface 64 terminating in a hook or upturned portion 65. As illustrated in FIG. 6, the cam follower such as a roller 66 rotatably mounted in a slot of a pin 67 which is operably connected to the clutch yoke 39 will be reciprocated in the vertical direction as the cam bar 41 is shifted in the horizontal direction.

Each of the cam bars 41 and 55 are operably connected to solenoids 53 and 54 respectively. Each of the solenoids has a pin 71 engaged in a Z-shaped slot having horizontal legs 68 and 69 interconnected by vertical leg 70. In response to the signals to the solenoid such as 53, the pin 71 is raised and lowered to travel in either slot 68 or 69. Since the solenoid 53 is oscillated by the housing 52, if the pin 71 is in the upper slot 69 the pin will engage opposite ends of the slot to shift the bar to a first position illustrated in solid lines in FIG. 6. When the signal is received for the pin to drop into the groove 68 and the oscillation will move the cam bar 41 to the position shown by dotted lines.

To prevent the cam bar 41 from accelerating during the shift from the dotted position to the first position and the 6 slamming contact of the follower 66 against the upstanding or hooklike projection 65, a dampening means or brake means 73 is provided comprising a spring means 74 attached by a bolt 75 to the upper portion 26 of the gear casing 23 and contacting an upper surface of each of the cam bars 41 and 55.

In accordance with this invention, the cam bar 41 is provided with a raised portion or second cam surface 76 located so that the spring means which is a leaf spring rides up a leadin or inclined action surface 77 onto the raised portion 76 as the follower 66 contacts the hooklike portion 65. As shown in FIG. 5, the leaf spring 74 is provided with an aperture 78 through which the bolt 75 is inserted and has end portions with upturned edges 8080 which facilitate movement of the spring 74 up the incline surface 77 on top of the raised portion Preferably, the leaf spring 74 is in contact with, the upper surface of the cam bars 41 and creates an increased frictional force therebetween which resists the acceleration of the cam bar 41 as it is being moved by the oscillation of the solenoid support housing 52, thereby operating as a clamping device. As the cam bar 41 approaches the end of its travel toward the left as illustrated in FIG. 6, the spring rides up the inclined surface 77 on to the raised portion 76 increasing-the frictional force being applied to the cam bar to cause a braking or dashpot effect on the movement of the cam bar 41. Thus, the follower 66 approaches the upstanding or hook portion 65 of the cam path 64 with a decreasing speed and does not slam into the surface 65 with the speed or force of the previous known cam bar assemblies. It should also be noted that due to the force of the spring means 38, and the weight of both the yoke 39 and clutch means 36, that the follower 66 is accelerated as it descends along the cam surface 64 while moving towards the upstanding portion 65.

When the follower 66 is in the bottom of the cam surface 64 as illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 6, the clutch is engaged and the drive sheave 35 will spin the basket 15 for the extraction of water from the clothes contained therein. When the follower 66 is moved vertically upward by the shifting of the cam bar 41 as illustrated in FIG. 6 to the right to the position shown by dotted lines, the clutch means 36 disengages the frictional surface 37 from the sheave 35 and the brake ring 61 contacts the frictional surface 62 to stop the rotation of the basket 15.

The cam bar 55 of the cam bar means 56 which operates the clutch of the agitator 35 could have a similar raised portion which coacts with the spring 74 if desired. However, the forces applied to the follower 57 do not create the undesirable acceleration of the bar 55 as it is being shifted between positions. The frictional forces created by the spring 74 acting on the flat upper surface provides sufficient braking forces for the cam bar means 56.

The actual controls for positioning the armatures of the solenoids 53 and 54 is the electrical control circuit of the washing machine or laundry device which include timing devices for actuating the various steps of filling, washing, draining, rinsing, spin drying or extracting. Examples of control circuits which could be utilized for the washing device of this invention are illustrated and described in the Geldhof et al. patent, U.S. Pat. No. Re.24,0l6 and the Platt et al. patent. US. Pat. No. 2,942,446.

Although minor modifications might be suggested by those versed in the art, it should be understood that we wish to embody within the scope of the patent warranted hereon all such modifications as reasonably and properly come within the scope of our contribution of the art.

The embodiments of the invention is which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

We claim:

1. In a laundry machine operable through a sequence of operations including at least a washing operation and and extracting operation and having a member which rotates at high speed during the extracting operation, said member being connected to a source of rotational motion by a clutch means,

means for controlling the clutch means including a cam bar mounted for reciprocal movement adjacent the clutch and having a cam surface,

a cam follower operably connected to said clutch means in contact with said cam surface to engage and disengage said clutch means in response to the movement of said cam bar, the improvement comprising damping means for selectively applying a force of increased magnitude to said cam bar to decelerate the movement thereof at a predetermined point of travel, thereby to damp the movement ofthe parts.

2. In a laundry machine according to claim I, wherein said damping means comprises a spring follower means mounted on a portion of the machine adjacent to said cam bar for engagement with one surface of said cam bar.

3. In a laundry machine according to claim 2, wherein said damping means comprises a raised portion on one surface of said cam bar with an inclined lead-in action surface whereby said spring means increases the frictional force between the cam bar and said spring means as the spring means rides up the inclined lead-in surfaces of the raised portion.

4. In a cam bar means used in a control means for a washing machine capable of automatically performing a series of programmed operations including washing, rinsing and extracting, a cam bar having a cam surface and a cam follower engaging said cam surface upon relative movement between said cam bar and follower causing an engagement and disengagement of a source of motion with a means for performing one of the operations of the predetermined sequence, the improve ment comprising a raised portion with inclined lead-in surfaces on one surface of said cam bar and a spring means mounted on a stationary part of the washing machine and being disposed adjacent to said cam bar for engagement with said raised portion, whereby movement of the spring means on the inclined leadin edge of said raised portion increases the frictional force for decelerating the movement of the cam bar.

5. A cam bar means as defined by claim 4 and further characterized by said spring means comprising a leaf spring in contact with said one surface to create a frictional force therebetween during relative movement thereon,

whereby contact of the raised portion with said leaf spring during relative movement of said cam bar to said spring increases the frictional force being applied to oppose movement of the cam bar.

6. A cam bar means according to claim 5 and being further characterized by said raised portion being disposed on said cam bar in a position to contact said leaf spring near the end of transit of said cam bar.

7. A cam bar means according to claim 6 wherein said follower operates a clutch between a basket of the laundry machine and a source of rotational motion, whereby said movement of said cam bar in one direction causes said basket to be connected to a source of rotational movement.

8. A cam bar means according to claim 7 in which said cam bar means includes a solenoid for controlling the direction of movement of said cam bar.

9. A cam bar means according to claim 4 wherein said leaf spring includes turned-up edge portions for facilitating its movement onto said raised portion. 

1. In a laundry machine operable through a sequence of operations including at least a washing operation and and extracting operation and having a member which rotates at high speed during the extracting operation, said member being connected to a source of rotational motion by a clutch means, means for controlling the clutch means including a cam bar mounted for reciprocal movement adjacent the clutch and having a cam surface, a cam follower operably connected to said clutch means in contact with said cam surface to engage and disengage said clutch means in response to the movement of said cam bar, the improvement comprising damping means for selectively applying a force of increased magnitude to said cam bar to decelerate the movement thereof at a predetermined point of travel, thereby to damp the movement of the parts.
 2. In a laundry machine according to claim 1, wherein said damping means comprises a spring follower means mounted on a portion of the machine adjacent to said cam bar for engagement with one surface of said cam bar.
 3. In a laundry machine according to claim 2, wherein said damping means comprises a raised portion on one surface of said cam bar with an inclined lead-in action surface whereby said spring means increases the frictional force between the cam bar and said spring means as the spring means rides up the inclined lead-in surfaces of the raised portion.
 4. In a cam bar means used in a control means for a washing machine capable of automatically performing a series of programmed operations including washing, rinsing and extracting, a cam bar having a cam surface and a cam follower engaging said cam surface upon relative movement between said cam bar and follower causing an engagement and disengagement of a source of motion with a means for performing one of the operations of the predetermined sequence, the improvement comprising a raised portion with inclined lead-in surfaces on one surface of said cam bar and a spring means mounted on a stationary part of the washing machine and being disposed adjacent to said cam bar for engagement with said raised portion, whereby movement of the spring means on the inclined lead-in edge of said raised portion increases the frictional force for decelerating the movement of the cam bar.
 5. A cam bar means as defined by claim 4 and further characterized by said spring means comprising a leaf spring in contact with said one surface to create a frictional force therebetween during relative movement thereon, whereby contact of the raised portion with said leaf spring during relative movement of said cam bar to said spring increases the frictional force being applied to oppose movement of the cam bar.
 6. A cam bar means according to claim 5 and being further characterized by said raised portion being disposed on said cam bar in a position to contact said leaf spring near the end of transit of said cam bar.
 7. A cam bar means according to claim 6 wherein said follower operates a clutch between a basket of the laundry machine and a source of rotational motion, whereby said movement of said cam bar in one direction causes said basket to be connected to a source of rotational movement.
 8. A cam bar means according to claim 7 in which said cam bar means includes a solenoid for controlling the direction of movement of said cam bar.
 9. A cam bar means according to claim 4 wherein said leaf spring includes turned-up edge portions for facilitating its movement onto said raised portion. 